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Weevils clinch No. 2 seed in GAC tourney

Weevils clinch No. 2 seed in GAC tourney

Ben Agredano of UAM follows through his swing on a double against Southern Arkansas on Friday. (University of Arkansas at Monticello/Jim Brewer)

BY THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

MONTICELLO — As the old saying goes, turnabout is fair play.

After the 25th-ranked Arkansas-Monticello baseball team gifted No. 12 Southern Arkansas the tying run in the top of the ninth inning on an error, SAU returned the favor as UAM scored a 5-4 walkoff win in 10 innings Friday afternoon at Weevils Field.

D’Marco Poindexter reached on a single to open the inning and Tyler Caruthers bunted him over to second. Evan Comeau followed with a hit to shortstop that was thrown away as Poindexter scrambled home with the winning run.

The Boll Weevils’ win — coupled with Arkansas Tech’s 3-2 victory over Harding on Friday — means UAM is locked into the No. 2 seed for next week’s Great American Conference Tournament. But the Weevils can still earn a share of the GAC regular-season title by sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader, which begins at 1 p.m., and having Harding beat Arkansas Tech twice.

UAM (32-12, 21-7 in GAC) took a 4-3 lead into the ninth but a throwing error by catcher Chad Miller allowed the tying run to score with two outs.

SAU (33-15, 17-11) took an early 2-0 lead on a pair of unearned runs.

The Weevils fought back to tie the score at 2-2 thanks to Corey Wood, who finished 2 for 2 with a walk. The designated hitter scored UAM’s first run on a wild pitch and later drove in the tying run.

The Muleriders regained the lead in the top of the fifth but the Weevils answered with a pair in the bottom half of the frame. Ray Johnson singled to tie the score 3-3 before Miller drove in the go-ahead run.

Kregg Snook (2-1) got credit for the win despite facing just one batter in the 10th. Snook struck out Josh Rodriguez with Chase Harvey on second and Watson Chapel product Ryan Dardenne on first.

Zach McKnight was in line for the win after grinding out an eight-inning day. He allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Jeff Harvill suffered the blown save, but did record four strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

Preston Gray (3-3) was saddled with the loss. He allowed the one unearned run on one hit in one inning. Gray entered the game with one out in the bottom of the ninth and Johnson on second base. He got Miller to ground out and pinch hitter Tyler Steinke to fly out to force extra innings.